Violence, Fear Torments Migrant Traders in South Africa

There have been several sporadic attacks on migrant vendors and their tented stalls in the KwaZulu Natal Province's city of Durban, when scores were forcibly removed by a group calling themselves the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association Freedom Fighters. Unconfirmed rumours of imminent, large-scale and coordinated attacks on migrants in the city's central business district have added to the fear and confusion that has gripped traders since the flare-up of xenophobic violence that began in November 2020, writes Desiree Erasmus for Daily Maverick. According to New Frame, the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in calls for migrants to be deported and for the government to take action against crimes allegedly committed by people born outside the country. Further, a 64-page report by Human Rights Watch from 2020 detailed xenophobic attacks, one year after the government adopted the National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.